Fernando Verdasco : biography

15 November 1983 -

Fernando Verdasco Carmona (born 15 November 1983 in Madrid, Spain) is a professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 7, achieved in April 2009. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight. As of 2009, Verdasco has been working in Las Vegas with Andre Agassi and his team, including Darren Cahill (Agassi's former coach) and Gil Reyes (Agassi's fitness coach).

Verdasco has aided Spain in winning three Davis Cup titles, winning the deciding match in both 2008 and 2009, he was part of the winning team in 2011 as well. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, where he lost to compatriot and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in five sets. Verdasco has also reached the quarterfinals twice at the US Open, in 2009 and 2010, losing to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal respectively, the latter of whom went on to win the title and thus complete the Career Grand Slam, and once at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, where he led Andy Murray two sets to love before being defeated in five sets.

Team events

Mixed: 1 (1–0)

Outcome

No.

Date

Tournament

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Winner

1.

5 January 2013

AUS}} Hopman Cup, Perth, Australia

Hard

ESP}} Anabel Medina Garrigues

SRB}} Ana Ivanovic Novak Djokovic

2–1

Doubles performance timeline

Current till 2013 Wimbledon Championships.

Tournament

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

W–L

Grand Slam tournaments

Australian Open

1R

2R

1R

1R

QF

QF

7–6

French Open

1R

1R

1R

2R

1R

QF

4–6

Wimbledon

2R

1R

1R

3R

3–4

US Open

QF

3R

1R

1R

QF

1R

8–6

Win–Loss

4–3

2–4

1–3

1–4

5–3

3–2

0–0

0–0

0–1

6–2

22–22

Major finals

ATP Masters Series finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome

Year

Championship

Surface

Opponent

Score

Runner-up

2010

Monte Carlo

Clay

ESP}} Rafael Nadal

0–6, 1–6

Career

Early years

He turned professional in 2002, finishing as World No. 464. 2002 was a good year for him, as he won his first Futures category title in Spain F1 and was runner-up in Spain F3. He played his pond career challenger in Segovia, where he reached the final after beating Belarusian Vladimir Voltchkov in the semifinals. He then reached two additional Challenger semifinals in Kiev and in Eckental, finishing the year in the top 200 at no. 173. 2002 also finished strongly off the court, as Fernando finished runner-up in a closely contested Best Abs in Castilla La Mancha contest.

2003

In 2003, Verdasco played his first Masters Series tournament (Miami Masters). He joined the main draw as a qualifier, and after defeating Karol Kučera and Max Mirnyi, he lost to countryman Carlos Moyà in the third round. After this good performance, he had a poor season on clay, and then he lost in the first round at Wimbledon against Finn Jarkko Nieminen in five sets in which he changed tennis racquets to the new Wilson Prestige and took new natural products for increased speed on the court. Then Verdasco played in Cincinnati, where he lost to Andy Roddick in straight sets. He reached the third round at the US Open, where he lost to Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, after defeating countryman Tommy Robredo in the first round and Italian Davide Sanguinetti in the second round.